Mind The Gap: How To Explain Cancer Related Work Absence In Your CV

I promised one of my readers that I would tackle the topic of how to address a gap in your work history as a result of cancer and I hope you will help by providing some of your own tips and suggestions too.

1. Accentuate The Positive

Get in the right frame of mind. For now, put aside your worries about how to explain the gap in your resume and spend some time focusing on why you are the right person for the specific job that you are applying for. List at least ten great qualities and skills you have and ask friends and family to help you brainstorm more.

Go back to your list of skills and pick the ones that relate specifically to the job description. You will need to be able to back them up with specific examples.

4. Add Your Skills To Your CV

Add your chosen skills to your CV in bullet points. Under each heading, provide an example of an area of accomplishment related to this specific skill.

5. Add Your Work History

You only need to add a brief work history – include volunteer, freelance or internship positions. Instead of putting in specific dates, include the number of years of service. For example, “Four years customer service experience”.

You do not have to disclose your cancer history during the application phase.

6. Handling The Interview

So what happens if you make it to the interview stage? If the interviewer brings up the issue of a gap in your CV, you still do not have to mention your cancer diagnosis and treatment. This information is private and protected by law. Have a ready prepared and well rehearsed explanation that you feel comfortable with. You might say family or personal issues but stress that they are resolved now and that you are ready and eager to get back into the work force. Then turn the conversation back to your strengths and suitability for the job. The more prepared you are before the interview, the more relaxed and at ease you will appear during the interview.

7. Monitor Your Digital Footprint

With an increasing number of employers googling prospective candidates, you need to be aware of what information you may already have posted online about your cancer. Many of us turn to social media sites like Facebook and blogs to keep our families and friends updated on our progress and to seek support during cancer treatment. However, if you do not want your employer or prospective employer to know of your cancer history, you need to take some steps to protect your privacy online.

Set privacy settings on things like Facebook so that nothing can be seen by people who aren’t “friends” (including pages you are a fan of – an often forgotten detail).

Google yourself to see what a prospective employer can see about you online.

Think before you share online. Don’t share anything about yourself that you would not want an employer to know.

Have you had to apply for a new job after cancer? How did you handle the question of cancer? Did you disclose it at an interview? Please share your experiences and advice in the comments below.

19 thoughts on “Mind The Gap: How To Explain Cancer Related Work Absence In Your CV”

Great advice, Marie! My cancer history did not, as I recall, come into play 7 years ago when I applied for my current job. It would be hard to dodge my online cancer presence now, and I’m not sure I’d want to. But how my employer has managed my current diagnosis is a big part of why I’ve stayed here longer than any position I’ve ever held – they care about each individual staff member and are supportive of our whole selves. And I try to always remember how lucky I am!

I’ve had trouble leaving comments because I had a WordPress.org account. I’m hoping this comment sticks!

Anyway, this is a fabulous posting, with invaluable tips for how to put one’s best foot forward in the job market after taking time off due to illness. I worked through treatment; I didn’t have a choice.

I like the emphasis on skills and will be checking out the skills based CV. Thanks! As for the digital footprint . . . well, it’s way too late for me on that point. 🙂 But personally, I use the ability to communicate online as an asset. Cancer happened, I learned a lot from the experience, and frankly it’s lead me to a new career in what I love doing. That’s a good story, I reckon – though saying that, I have yet to mention it in an interview!

These are great tips. I served on the boards of two non-profit organizations after retiring from a long career. I even accepted some officer positions. This kind of volunteer work impresses employers who are philanthropic and forward-thinking. xox

Thank you so much!! these tips are of so much help Marie, and the example of skills based CV can’t get any clearer. I think part of not worrying about the gap, it has to be more about getting back “out there”.

I’ve worked as a freelancer and decided to fill the gap with that fact. Include the number of years instead of the years, great advice. And Monitor Your Digital Footprint that is something I didn’t think about it before, great point.

This will be of so much help, can’t thank you enough. 🙂 HugsX
Gracias y Gracias!!

As I am presently in a job search, I was looking forward to your follow up on this. I was diagnosed during the peak of the recession (Feb 2009) after already being unemployed for nearly two years. I was fortunate to be able to continue interviewing throughout my surgeries, but the two year gap soon became three years. I eventually found a job (though short-lived when my employer learned I’d had BC — a whole other topic). So I’ve been dealing with a job held for only six months after a three year gap. Not easy.

Overall, your suggestions and advice is all very sound, but I’d like to point out a few things that people may encounter.

(1) The search process has undergone a major transition. Unless you are being presented by a recruiter with an inside track to HR or the hiring manager, or are lucky enough to network your way into a job lead through a friend or referral, a functional resume will only take you so far. More often than not, you are still expected to fill out a company’s online application. If you have no inside track to the job, there is no way around this. Although the sites allow you to cut and paste and/or upload your resume, many forms require you to list your previous jobs in chronological order. There is no way to game the system to get to the next screen without entering the requested information. Even when I’ve had a contact at the company for a position I’m applying for, I’m always advised to first apply online in order to come across as someone who follows the rules.

(2) My biggest concern is your last point #7 about monitoring your digital footprint. This has been deeply disconcerting for me, perhaps because I know as much as I do about social media. While I have interacted with friends on FB and Twitter (#BCSM and in general) I’m very careful about what I disclose about my own diagnosis. I take personal queries and convos offline and try to participate in a manner that limits my own self-disclosure.

That said … we don’t always know the people we are interacting with and they may publicly ask questions and/or tag you in posts on their own page or other mutually ‘liked’ pages that have PUBLIC privacy settings. MANY people I interact with have open FB pages (you can tell their posts are public by the little globe icon in the lower right hand corner) and with FBs new graph search that is launching, this presents a huge privacy issue that people may not fully appreciate or understand. Well meaning chit chat about surgeries and treatment can now be data mined by an employer or others doing background checks, or even gauging your presence on social media. (Think about how frequently people “tag” one another in posts and you’ll understand my concern).

While it would technically be illegal for an employer to do so, you would have NO way of knowing (or proving) that your diagnosis was used against you. And once you self- disclose *anything* on social media, you’ve essentially checked your HIPAA protection at the door. Same goes for FB groups that are open, whether it be a cancer support page or other illness-related page. Cancer and Careers recently suggested that people review all their FB pages and groups to check their privacy settings and decide whether or not this is information you want public.

The point is this — while your OWN privacy settings may be locked down, when you post a comment or interact on a friend’s page that is public (or more open than your own) you’ve now unwittingly disclosed information that you might have believed was private. Twitter, obviously is it’s own animal and unless your tweets are protected, anything you tweet is NOT protected by HIPAA.

Perhaps I’m more wary than most having already encountered an employer that forced me out after finding out I had been treated for BC, but I still don’t think my concerns are unfounded. I’m not so sure that people fully understand the limitations of privacy settings and some of the ramifications of discussing details of their treatment and diagnosis on social media. It’s truly a double edged sword …

Thank you so much Blonde Ambition for taking the time to clarify the privacy settings, particularly on Facebook. You are right to point out its limitations. I guess we all have to make a judgment call on whether it is worth the risk if we choose to keep our private life private. Your points are really worth taking on board and I appreciate your detailed comment.

This is a fresh topic for me because (drumroll) I just got a new job that starts this Monday. To my advantage, I worked part-time throughout cancer so I didn’t have the gap, but I moved a four months ago. Because I’ve done a smattering of work remotely for my prior employer, I could honestly put that down as a present position, but they understood I was working remotely and it’s limited.

When I applied to the ad, it seemed the perfect job for me in an otherwise stagnant market. In the email where I forwarded my resume, I did not write a generic cover letter. I described very specific experience, talking about specific cases (law office) I’d worked on that showed I had experience in the firm’s specialty. By the time I hit Send, I told my son, “I’ll be shocked if they don’t call.” They called 2 days later, I interviewed the next day, and had an offer at the interview.

How did I handle it? I went in feeling confident in my skills and experience and I know the way I carried myself reflected that. I’ve always been at ease in interviewing situations, but they asked a question about why I moved, and I had to make an on-the-spot judgment call. I just went with honest. I chose to tell them about the cancer, that there were a lot of difficulties that led to me moving to be close to family where I had a better support system. They still offered me the job. Why? They understood that everyone has problems. The boss has had a number of cancer patients within his immediate family. He did ask if I was “clean,” which I could say I was. So far, so good.

Sorry for this to be so long as a comment, but this is so fresh and real for me. So to sum it up, go with your gut, but for me, I just spilled it out there, but not too much information. Less is usually more. Rehearsing these scenarios ahead of time will help you to handle it with confidence. Confidence is key. In any situation, it makes us smell like roses even when we’re wallowing in mud. I’m also glad they know because I’d like to work with people who are compassionate and understand that good workers get sick. Good luck to every single one of us who’s looking for employment. xoxo

Please don’t apologize for the length of your comment Eileen – it is most welcome advice. You have shared some great tips here and I am sure everyone joins me in wishing you lots of luck with your new job.

I recently took a workshop about cancer and the workplace. You can read my blog post here but definitely check out http://www.cancerandcareers.org. They have some great resources in talking with your future/current employer, etc.

Hi Vicki, thanks so much for sharing the link to cancer and careers. I am aware of the great work they do in educating patients on their work rights. Readers will find lots of great advice on their website.

I think that the issue of today’s digital footprint makes it harder to be ‘coy’ about a cancer-related experience. And from my own experience in looking at cvs, if I see a gap, or an apparent gap, I will ask, and the forthrightness of the applicant in discussing the reason (e.g., having kids, cancer treatment) tells me about how open and honest the applicant is. For those who have had an active online presence during their treatment, this can also be used as a skill (e.g., despite going through treatment, I learned about social media …., and am now in remission).

Not easy, and the reaction of the potential employer also says something about the workplace.

Insightful article! Explaining employment gaps in an interview is one of the worst nightmare for job seekers and it becomes even more challenging.I have 1 year of gap in my resume and having reason of health issue.You have shared a great ways here in this article to explain employment gap. Thanks a lot, i will follow this while going for an interview!

Categories

Archives

Recent Comments

". . .and the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and JOYFUL, by which we arrive at the ground at our own feet, and learn to be at home."
Wendell Berry